Kent County Council (KCC) has accused its borough rival of failing to secure developer contributions to a Leeds-Langley relief road.

Earlier this month Cllr Fran Wilson, leader of Maidstone Borough Council (MBC), extended an olive branch to Cllr Paul Carter in an attempt to resolve their bitter public dispute about how to move forward with getting a bypass.

She offered to contribute to a root and branch analysis of the scheme, which she said KCC was failing to undertake because it was instead looking at a detailed investigation into the new road.

The letter back from KCC, penned by Barbara Cooper, described this offer of funding as: “a welcome surprise, particularly since your authority did not contribute to the cost of the earlier Local Plan modelling.”

The idea for a road to link traffic south of the County Town to junction 8 of the M20, bypassing Leeds was first suggested in the 1990s.

Cllr Wilson also said if KCC had completed a strategic assessment for the need for a new road earlier the proposals could have been included in the borough Local Plan setting out the future development of the borough, therefore receiving money from the earmarked development of thousands of new homes.

Responding, Ms Cooper, corporate director for growth, environment and transport, hit back, saying KCC would make necessary and appropriate appraisals over the delivery of a new relief road.

“As you are aware the County Council, and no doubt yourselves, are under severe revenue pressures and such a level of funding is not readily available. It is true to say this work would have been developed to a far greater degree for the Local Plan had we not had to waste valuable resources checking and challenging your own consultants’ work.

“Furthermore, your planners have resolutely refused to collect money for LLB (Leeds-Langley Bypass).”

She added: “But I would make a specific plea for MBC to properly involve us in your s106 considerations (accepting of course it is the LPA’s responsibility to approve them) as we are sure we could have found a mutually agreeable method for securing monies from the applications already agreed. This was a missed opportunity.”

Section 106 refers to financial contributions a council can secure from developers.

A meeting was due to be held between the two authorities on Friday November 17, following a public debate on the issue attended by about 400 people at which MPs Helen Whately and Helen Grant promised to broker talks between the two councils.

Ms Cooper suggested the formation of a working group to further advance the project.